Quote:
Originally Posted by Osem
Sorry but that's not the impression those who were killed had when they went to that school. The leaflets are telling people to leave their homes but where are they supposed to go? The aid organisations are trying to provide safe areas for those displaced but for reasons best known to themselves the Israelis have attacked some such areas. What on earth is the point of dropping leaflets telling people to move when they don't know where to go and even when they do find supposed refuge they're bombed? Israel's actions are winning them no friends and creating yet more animosity and hatred around the globe. Where is the logic in what they're doing? What's the current tally now? 900 v. a dozen? How many more innocent people are the Israelis prepared to murder? When was the last time 16 entirely innocent members of a single Jewish family were killed by Hamas? The scale and indiscrimination of Israel's actions beggars belief and will serve only to up the ante in respect of reprisals against Jews both inside and outside Israel.
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Looking at this thread the leaflets do not appear to tell them to leave their homes:-
http://www.psywar.org/forum/index.ph...78.msg787.html
Despite all the deaths, which ARE truly horrific, I suspect that at the end of each day, the Israeli commander-in-chief asks their staff one question.."Have Hamas stopped firing rockets into Israel?" When the commander gets the answer "No", it is assumed that enough has not been done to persuade the Palestinians to cease fire and the Israeli campaign is upped a notch.
Many non-Militant Palestinian deaths could be avoided if the Militants did the following:-
a) requested a ceasefire long enough for the non-militants, the injured and dying to be evacuated from Gaza to Egypt
b) only launched their rockets from areas which were unpopulated
c) dressed in clear Hamas battledress and not in civilian clothing
d) did not use "safe" buildings as valid battle positions
The problem for the Militants is that to do that would be counter to sound battle tactics, because in wartime soldiers on both sides do what is necessary to win however horrific or immoral.
Given that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been going on for more than 60 years it is impossible for me to say whether 16 members of the same family have been killed by Hamas because it could have been done by degrees over a number of years. Either way, ANY death, Palestinian or Israeli is tragic and unacceptable especially when it is avoidable.
The world is clearly unhappy about what is happening in Gaza but any action by them at present is likely to come when the conflict is over, which, as we both know, will be too late for many Palestinians. There may well be a lot of ill feeling towards Israelis all over the world but then having said that, it has existed for the last 60 years or so anyway.
To talk of reprisals suggests further acts of violence against Israelis worldwide but they have gone on previously anyway. It also suggests that it is more important to take revenge on Israelis rather than find a mutually acceptable solution which secures a peaceful future equally for Palestinians and Israelis alike.
I suspect that Hamas is going to fight to the bitter end, which is very unfortunate. Many Palestinians will die an unnecessary death. Some Israelis will die too, but in the end both sides will still have to agree conditions for peace.
Pressure from the outside world will not save Hamas because the records of history are written by the victors. I wonder how many injustices have taken place in previous wars round the world that have gone unreported, where the guilty parties have gone unpunished simply because there was no-one left to give their side in the argument or report the facts?
The lack of independent reporting in Gaza simply means that outsiders have no reliable evidence of what is going on since witnesses in Gaza can be biased or mistaken. The only way that will change is if both the Palestinians and the Israelis cease fire, which seems highly unlikely.
Sadly, even the protest in London outside the Israeli embassy degenerated into a violent battle with the police and completely undermined its peaceful purpose.
Hopefully, both sides will learn that, in disputes, violence is not the answer.